One of the makers of modern India tells the story of the partition of India as never before, with intimate knowledge and feeling. India Wins Freedom has at last won its own freedom. The full text of this autobiographical narrative was confined, under seal, in the National Library, Calcutta, and in the National Archives, New Delhi, for thirty years. What we now have is the complete text, released in September 1988, by a court directive. Not only have all the words and phrases of the original been reproduced, the original tone and temper have been fully restored. The text now reveals that the controversy that has simmered for so long about the hitherto unpublished pages, was fully justified.

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (1888–1958) was a senior leader of the Indian National Congress, and became its President in 1923. A vocal supporter of nonviolence, he promoted the use of swadeshi products and agitated for Swaraj. Through India’s struggle for Independence, Azad worked tirelessly for secularism as well as Hindu–Muslim unity. In 1920, Azad was elected to the committee that was set up to establish the Jamia Milia Islamia at Aligarh. He helped to shift the campus to Delhi in 1934. Azad became the first Minister of Education in Independent India’s government and held the post until his death in 1958.